March 2009 Briefing - Neurology

Here are what the editors at HealthDay consider to be the most important developments in Neurology for March 2009. This roundup includes the latest research news from journal articles, as well as the FDA approvals and regulatory changes that are the most likely to affect clinical practice.

Safe Practice Scores Do Not Add Up to Fewer Patient Deaths

TUESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- In hospitals, higher self-reported scores for improvements in safe practices do not correlate with reduced mortality rates, researchers report in the April 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

TUESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Clinical outcomes following placement of an artificial cervical disc were similar in patients with and without previous adjacent cervical fusion, according to research published in the March 15 issue of Spine.

TUESDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with multiple sclerosis have an overall lower cancer risk, which does not appear to be due to heredity, according to the results of a study published in the March 31 issue of Neurology.

MONDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- The use of electromyography provides helpful details regarding the regional muscle activity that occurs during three sagittally balanced seated postures, according to research published in the March 15 issue of Spine.

MONDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- People with a family history of depression are more likely to develop the illness if they have loss of brain cortex matter, according to research published online March 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

MONDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Mice housed in isolation are more likely to experience major ischemic damage and die of a stroke than their socially housed cohorts, according to research published online March 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

MONDAY, March 30 (HealthDay News) -- The use of the prostaglandin E1 derivative limaprost alfadex may provide symptomatic relief in patients with cervical spinal canal stenosis (CSCS), according to research published in the March 15 issue of Spine.

THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- In women of childbearing age, anterior spinal surgery may not affect fertility, although it may be associated with a higher rate of cesarean section deliveries, according to the results of a study published in the April issue of The Spine Journal.

THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- Alcohol consumption, up to moderate levels, may increase β-endorphin release in the brain and play a role in ethanol reward, according to research published online March 19 in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- The dizziness-inducing condition known as benign positional vertigo is associated with osteopenia and osteoporosis, researchers report in the March 24 issue of Neurology.

THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- In patients undergoing lumbosacral spinal surgery, monitoring of upper-limb somatosensory evoked potential may help prevent position-related peripheral nerve injuries, according to a report published in the April issue of The Spine Journal.

WEDNESDAY, March 25 (HealthDay News) -- Citing cost barriers, relatively few U.S. hospitals have adopted electronic health records, posing a major obstacle for policy makers who say health information technology is critical to the improvement of health care quality and cost-effectiveness, according to an article published online March 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

TUESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- People aged 65 and older with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia make Medicare and Medicaid claims that are three times higher than those of their counterparts without the condition, according to a report, 2009 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures, released March 24 by the Alzheimer's Association.

TUESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Multiple early exposures to anesthesia may be an important risk factor for developing learning disabilities later in childhood, researchers report in the April issue of Anesthesiology.

TUESDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Switching to anticonvulsant drugs that don't activate cytochrome P450 enzymes can improve blood cholesterol levels and lower cardiovascular risk in epilepsy patients, according to research published online March 18 in the Annals of Neurology.

MONDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Prolactin injected directly into the brains of rats can induce a prolactin secretory rhythm similar to that induced after mating, but only maintains and does not initiate mating-induced prolactin surges, according to a study published online March 12 in Endocrinology.

MONDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- The emotional content of Western music appears to be universally recognized even by isolated African tribesman, and is not the result of acculturation, according to research reported March 19 in Current Biology.

MONDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Dorsal column stimulation in animal models of Parkinson's disease points to a less-invasive method of improving function, and the use of optogenetics suggests a major target for deep brain stimulation in the disease, according to two studies published March 20 and online March 19 in Science.

FRIDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- A gene involved in promoting the degeneration of nerve axons in response to damage or drugs may be part of a common self-destruct program that can be targeted for the treatment of neuropathies and other conditions, according to a study published online March 15 in Nature Neuroscience.

THURSDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Infants who die after abusive head injuries often have neck injuries, although these injuries appear to be only a contributing factor to most brain lesions associated with abusive head trauma, researchers report in the March issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

THURSDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Although the rate of hippocampal atrophy may better distinguish individuals with mild cognitive impairment from controls, measures of whole brain volume may better discriminate Alzheimer's disease from mild cognitive impairment, according to research published in the March 17 issue of Neurology.

WEDNESDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- Cytogenetic studies of the family of a child with DiGeorge syndrome highlights a case of genetic compensation, according to a report published in the March 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, March 18 (HealthDay News) -- A newly developed guideline may help determine which infants with obstetrical brachial plexus injury (OBPI) would benefit from surgery, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

TUESDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- Modafinil, a drug used to treat narcolepsy and psychiatric disorders, increases dopamine in the brain and may have the potential for abuse and addiction, according to a report published in the March 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

MONDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Treating human prion disease with quinacrine does not reduce the mortality rate associated with the disease, according to a study published online March 10 in The Lancet Neurology.

MONDAY, March 16 (HealthDay News) -- Endogenous hindbrain glucagon-like-peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) activation contributes to the control of food intake by mediating gastric satiation signaling, according to the results of an animal study published online ahead of print March 5 in Endocrinology.

THURSDAY, Mar. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Well-known brain networks appear to play a role in certain aspects of religious belief, according to research published online Mar. 9 before print in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

THURSDAY, Mar. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Children of older fathers are more likely to have subtle neurocognitive problems, while children of older women are more likely to have superior neurocognitive abilities, researchers report in the March issue of PLoS Medicine.

TUESDAY, Mar. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Higher outdoor temperatures were associated with a short-term increase in headache risk, according to the results of a study published in the Mar. 10 issue of Neurology.

TUESDAY, Mar. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Overweight and obesity, and its associated metabolic disorders including diabetes, are linked with dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, according to research published in a series of articles in the March issue of the Archives of Neurology.

MONDAY, Mar. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Pre-existing vascular risk factors such as abnormal cholesterol levels and diabetes may be associated with an accelerated cognitive decline in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, according to the results of a study published in the March issue of the Archives of Neurology.

MONDAY, Mar. 9 (HealthDay News) -- A population of stem cell-like glioma cells characterized by the presence of a drug transporter are highly tumorigenic and resistant to drugs, and the standard glioma treatment increases this population, according to a report in the Mar. 6 issue of Cell Stem Cell.

MONDAY, Mar. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Combined postoperative treatment of glioblastoma patients with radiation and temozolomide improves five-year survival over radiation alone, though most patients still eventually die of the disease, according to an article published online Mar. 9 in The Lancet Oncology.

FRIDAY, Mar. 6 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about the risk of burns as a result of wearing medicated patches, such as those used for smoking cessation or pain relief, during MRI scans.

THURSDAY, Mar. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Achieving health care reform is one of President Barack Obama's major challenges, and his newly released spending plan calls on Congress to commit $630 billion over the next decade to finance that reform, according to an article published online Mar. 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

WEDNESDAY, Mar. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Continuous arterial spin-labeling (CASL) MRI is a non-invasive technique that can reveal changes in cerebral blood flow within specific brain regions, which may help to identify progression to Alzheimer's disease, according to research published in the March issue of Radiology.

TUESDAY, Mar. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Two systems to stage and manage spinal tumors have moderate interobserver reliability and substantial intraobserver reliability, according to the results of a study published in the Feb. 15 issue of Spine.

TUESDAY, Mar. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Alterations of the MET gene, encoding an enzyme involved in brain development and gastrointestinal repair, may be associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder with associated gastrointestinal dysfunction, according to research published in the March issue of Pediatrics.

MONDAY, Mar. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Although the mortality rate related to motor vehicles remained almost unchanged from 1999 to 2005 in the United States, on closer inspection the data reveals wide variations from state to state, as well as by gender and ethnicity, according to a report published in the Feb. 27 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

MONDAY, Mar. 2 (HealthDay News) -- In patients with acute ischemic stroke, admission perfusion-derived permeability-surface area product (PS) measurement may differentiate those who are and are not likely to develop hemorrhagic transformation, according to the results of a pilot study published in the March issue of Radiology.

MONDAY, Mar. 2 (HealthDay News) -- People who have negative views about aging are more likely to have a cardiovascular event later in life, according to research published online Feb. 13 in Psychological Science.